


Adjusting to the New Way

by apatternedfever



Series: 167verse [2]
Category: Sanctuary (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Communication, Gen, The Quiet World
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-18
Updated: 2011-09-18
Packaged: 2017-10-23 20:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/254563
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apatternedfever/pseuds/apatternedfever
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Learning to express yourself in 167 words a day.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Adjusting to the New Way

**Author's Note:**

> Part of the 167verse, inspired by Jeffrey McDaniel's poem [the Quiet World](http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-quiet-world/), in which each person can only say 167 words a day.

Nigel doesn't find it as hard to adjust as most; he's spent so much time silent while invisible that it comes easily to him. He rations them, lets them out in a slow leak throughout the day, uses them on the "yes"es and "no"s and "hello"s and "thank you"s and little comments to himself -- everything most people don't bother with anymore, things that half the time he didn't bother with before. He delegates the important conversations to paper and body language, where he doesn't have to count and keep track, and uses his words for the smaller things; he likes it better that way. He keeps careful count and if he has words left at the end of the day (and often he does), he picks up the phone to share pointless, often one-sided conversations with somebody else.

James finds it hardest to remember the restrictions when he's working on his own projects. In the Sanctuary, they put up chalkboards and white boards along the corridors, they leave notepads and sticky notes and flashcards with common phrases on every table, and he keeps a rolling chalkboard next to his desk for conversations in his office. He uses a minimum of words on the telephone when it becomes necessary -- he always made calls as quick as he could even before, though, never liked communicating over the phone -- and gets used to the silence in the hallways eventually. In his lab, however, he's used to talking himself through the steps, working through his theories aloud, and some days when he gets stuck on a project he find his words gone in minutes. It's even harder when he's not working alone; with most people he work with, arguments back and forth have led to more breakthroughs than he can count. Writing simply isn't the same, doesn't get ideas flowing the way they used to. Sometimes, in the labs, the silence starts to feel oppressive.

John barely notices the difference. He has nobody to speak to, these days, even before the restriction -- rare pleasantries, now a thing of the past, were never more than an obligation. On the occasion he crosses paths with Nigel or Nikola, he'll find himself holding conversations, rarely coming close to running out of words; otherwise, he's fine to spend his days in silence.


End file.
